Red Bull: The Science of Focus

Our ever-growing booklist attests to the popular appetite for understanding and changing behaviour. Now brands like Red Bull are getting in on the action.

Science-based branded content

Rather than just using behavioural science behind the scenes to improve marketing effectiveness, marketers are creating content which explicitly focuses on behaviour, arming people with tools, insights and experiences rooted in psychological research.

Drawing upon existing data and scientific expertise is both resourceful and robust. But most appealing from a brand perspective is the opportunity to stake out the human truths at the heart of your proposition – in the case of Red Bull, focus.

Launched this summer, Red Bull Focus is an interactive platform about the science of focus and performance. Prime Decision collaborated with Red Bull’s brand team and their gaming agency, Kempt, to create a series of focus tests grounded in psychological research.

Each of the seven micro-games measures a different aspect of focus, such as sustained attention or inhibition. After completing the tests and generating a focus profile, users can compare their performance against friends and elite athletes, including pilots from the Red Bull Air Race.

As the campaign develops, Red Bull plans to open-up the test data to universities, giving academics and psychology students the opportunity to use the platform in their own research. We’re also working collaboratively with behavioural scientists to create supporting content about focus in everyday life.

For further inspiration, here are two very different brands making behavioural science part of their story:

Why is it so darn hard to save money? Why is pension procrastination so commonplace? This Prudential campaign, featuring behavioural economists and psychological experiments, shares how we’re wired-up to think short-term – and how we might overcome these biases.